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Sea Turtles Season in Florida

Pets or not to be pets? These cute little sea turtles that hatch on our shores are hard to resist picking up and taking home.

Many folks fold to the temptation and bring them home thinking they will be cute little pets in a little aquarium in their bedroom.

Let me enlighten you on a few facts of these magnificent little creatures. First if it’s indeed what you think it is then they are endangered and illegal to keep. When you pick one up from its nests you don’t know how much damage you have really caused by removing these little guys from their nest. These turtles come and nest in the same spot year after year and if you pick them up they loose their ability

Each season typically April to October, Florida beaches host one of the largest gathering of nesting in the United States. When a female emerges from the ocean it deposits eggs in the sand nests. 50 to 65 days after eggs are placed in the nest, hatchlings tear themselves free of their papery eggshells beneath the sand and with periodic bouts of thrashing, make their way to the surface.

At nightfall, as many as 100 hatchlings burst together from the sand and immediately scramble toward the ocean. Moving quickly from the nest to sea is critical for the survival of hatchling sea turtles.

Nearly all of this activity takes place under cover of darkness and relies upon a natural light environment too often disrupted by the addition of artificial lighting.

Since the hatchlings are strongly attracted to light sources along the beach. It is very important and a priority to make sure all lights are dim to the dimmest, If not the hatchlings move toward streetlights, porch lights or interior lighting visible through windows, and away from the relative sanctuary of the ocean.

Quite literally, a single light left on near a sea turtle nesting beach can misdirect and kill hundreds of hatchlings

These adorable little hatchlings are so easily failed to find their way to the sea, having succumbed to exhaustion making their ways to the shore, attacks by predators, the saddening drying in the morning sun, or strikes by automobiles on nearby parking lots and roads...This is a special time of year when we are privileged to witness this occurrence of an endangered species struggle to survive.

Please watch my videos while I watch the 2012 sea turtle season in Melbourne Beach, Florida.